


New Year, New Man

by bughead_is_riverdale



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, New York City, Paris (City), Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 04:35:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bughead_is_riverdale/pseuds/bughead_is_riverdale
Summary: For months Veronica has promised to set Betty up with her boyfriend's mysterious roommate. Veronica will only refer to him as 'Mr Jones' and Betty is beginning to think he doesn't exist, she's never laid eyes on him after all. Determined to get over her cheating ex-boyfriend, she promises herself that 2019 will be better. When she bumps into a young man with bright blue eyes and a shy smile at the bar at Veronica's New Year's party, she realises that this might be a promise she can keep.





	New Year, New Man

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 9:30pm...**

The hair straighteners sizzled over Veronica’s dark glossy hair, a cloud of steam billowing in Betty’s face. She grimaced and fanned herself quickly as she felt her heavy mascara threaten to stick her eyelashes together, Veronica didn’t seem to notice. Her best friend had assured her that straightening her hair damp wouldn’t damage it in the slightest, but Betty wasn’t so sure. Regardless, she carried on straightening. They were under time pressure.

“Did you remember the confetti cannons?” Veronica piped up suddenly, coating her already-perfect lashes in mascara with enviable speed. 

“Come on V, it’s me,” Betty smiled, catching her friend’s eye in the mirror. 

Veronica rolled her dark eyes. “I know better than to ask about the champagne.” Betty didn’t reply. “Right?”

“Yes, yes!” Betty laughed. “Everything is going to be perfect V, stop worrying!” Veronica was very good at socialising, but wasn’t interested in planning, just being the centre of attention. The planning was where Betty came in. She had been planning parties since she single-handedly organised the junior prom. Planning Veronica Lodge’s New Year’s party was as easy as breathing, especially considering the unlimited budget. 

“So Archikins is bringing his new roommate…” Veronica began suggestively, smirking at her friend in the mirror. Betty pursed her lips, trying to hide a smile. 

“That’s if he shows up.”

“Aww come on B, he’s just shy. But you guys would be so cute together.”

“Mmmhmm.” It was easier to agree with Veronica than argue. Betty had figured that out over two years ago when the strong-minded brunette had marched into their college room with what appeared to be her butler dragging two suitcases behind him, and claimed the bigger bed. Betty had never seen Archie’s mysterious new roommate, but Veronica had declared him perfect for her and had immediately tried to set them up. However, every time she asked Betty to just inconspicuously pop by, he hadn’t been there. Betty was beginning to think that her best friend had just made him up. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea, Reggie and I only just broke up like --”

“Like six months ago! He’s a cheating ass, and it is high time for a new man.”

“V --”

“Don’t take that tone with me hun, you and Mr Jones are going to happen.” She glided her dangerously dark lipstick flawlessly across her lips just as Betty finished pinning her perfectly straightened hair. Betty looked at her own reflection in the mirror -- pale complexion, blonde waves, and light pink lipstick, feeling like a wilted flower next to her blossoming best friend. She had always been in someone’s shadow; her mother, her sister, and now Veronica. But she didn’t mind, she liked it that way. It suited her fine.

“How am I supposed to introduce myself to this mysterious Mr Jones if you won’t even tell me his name? It’s not 1900,” Betty scoffed.

“You won’t be introducing yourself, I’ll be introducing you.”

Betty sighed. “V, this isn’t some grand ball. It’s just a New Year’s party.”

“Yes, and Mr Jones is the man you will be kissing at midnight.” 

The blonde made a face. “I’ve got this image of a fifty year old man in my head,” she shuddered. “Just tell me his name,” she begged.

“All in good time.” Veronica checked her watch. “Which is running away from us! Quickly, we need to find you an outfit.”

Betty looked down at her cream blouse and pastel-pink skirt that hung comfortably just above her knee. “I was just going to wear this.”

“Oh hunny,” Veronica shook her head with pity. “No.”

 

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 10:30pm...**

“Come on Jughead, we’re gonna be late and Ronnie’s gonna kill me.”

Archie banged on his friend’s bedroom door again as he sent his girlfriend another assuring text that they were on the way. The beer he had already drunk was beginning to hit him and he wasn’t sure if the last text was legible. 

“I’m not going,” Jughead called back. He had an article to finish and wasn’t really much of a partier anyway. That was an overstatement. He didn’t party, at all.

“Awh bro, it’s New Year, you have to.”

“Nope, that is definitely not a rule. I won’t give in to social convention.”

Archie got another _WHERE ARE YOU?!?_ text from Veronica. He flinched. She scared him a little and he knew how much effort Betty and her had put into organising the party for what seemed like the whole college.

“I’ll owe you one,” he promised.

Jughead peaked around his bedroom door, sensing an opportunity to con his roommate into paying for all his drinks.

“Drinks on you?”

“Drinks on me,” the redhead promised like a loyal puppy. 

“And I can leave at the strike of midnight?”

“Before your carriage turns into a pumpkin,” Archie snorted. Jughead grinned, grabbing his jacket from his bedroom floor. 

“Lead the way my friend.”

“Awesome,” Archie grinned. He snatched up his jacket while Jughead called for an Uber. It was already snowing while they waited on the street outside, and Jughead had to pull his sherpa jacket around himself tightly, thankful for his old grey beanie. He hated snow, and took this as a sign that he shouldn’t have left the apartment. It didn’t take a genius to see that he was less than enthusiastic. Archie took a different tactic.

“Betty will be there.” 

“So?”

“So…” he replied suggestively.

“Not happening.”

“Why not? Betty’s great.”

“No offense, but I really don’t trust your girlfriend to set me up with anyone. Ever!”

“Betty is nothing like Ronnie,” Archie protested. “I bet you guys would really hit it off.”

“No one from New York high society wants to take me home to their parents, trust me,” Jughead snorted.

“Whatever bro, but you’re missing out,” Archie winked.

“Eww! Have you slept with her?”

“NO! Ew God no!” Jughead raised an eyebrow. He wondered how dreadful this girl must be if Archie wouldn’t touch her. “Don’t get me wrong, Betty’s hot in a innocent girl-next-door kind of way, but I wouldn’t go there. We’ve known each other for way too long. She’s like a sister to me.”

“She’s from Riverdale?” Jughead was sure that Archie had probably told him before, but he didn’t always listen to his roommate. 

“Yeah, we live next door back home.” Jughead just nodded. “She’s honestly great.”

“Arch, I’m really not interested in dating anyone right now.” In his last year of college, Jughead didn’t want to get tied down. Their Uber pulled up and they climbed inside, relaxing as the heat began to creep back into their fingertips.

“Just wait until you meet her,” Archie pressed as he searched for his seat-belt. Jughead shrugged, realising it was easier not to argue.

“Alright, I’ll wait until I meet her.”

 

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 10:45pm...**

“Where the hell are they?” Veronica growled. Betty pressed another gin and tonic into her friend’s hand. 

“They’ll be here V, Archie can be an idiot sometimes but he isn’t stupid enough to miss this.” Betty was lying. Archie had been her platonic date to the junior prom and he had managed to miss that. She sent him another text.

“He better be,” she muttered. “And he better have Jones with him.”

Betty began to pity this mysterious Mr Jones, imagining him captive in a cab somewhere in New York, on his way here. She wasn’t wrong. She couldn’t help but smile at the image. Her smile quickly vanished when she spotted her ex-boyfriend at the bar. Reggie was flirting with a beautiful blonde, leaning close to her and whispering in her ear before she threw her head back laughing, perfect blonde curls bouncing tauntingly in Betty’s direction.

She excused herself, thankfully Veronica was distracted by some friends that Betty had never met before and it gave her an excuse to sneak into the ladies bathroom for a moment of quiet. She looked at herself carefully in the mirror. She almost didn’t recognise herself in Veronica’s pastel blue cocktail dress that was probably worth more than her. It was tight in all the right places and hung suggestively off the shoulder without being slutty. Complemented with her soft blonde waves, golden eyeshadow bringing out bright green eyes, and a pale pink lip, Betty looked a million dollars. She just didn’t feel it. She fanned her eyes, willing herself not to cry. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t be hung up on Reggie tonight, and she intended to keep that promise.

“Come on Betty,” she whispered to herself, or the version of herself that was looking back at her in the mirror.

Her phone rang, making her jump as it hummed against the hard marble wash basin. It was Archie.

“Hey.”

“Hey Betty, we’re here. I can’t see Ronnie anywhere though.” She could barely hear him with the music blaring in the background.

“Arch stay where you are, I’ll come to you.”

She hung up, check her mascara, took a deep breath, and ventured back out onto the dance floor. She ignored Reggie and his new play-thing, and looked around for her childhood best-friend amongst the dancing bodies and flashing lights. She spotted him, looking like a rabbit in the headlights without Veronica on his arm. She didn’t see anyone with him however.

“Archie!” she called, walking towards him as fast as her stilettos would allow. He grinned when he saw her and gave her a brotherly hug. “You scrubbed up well,” she joked, tugging on the collar of his blazer approvingly.

“Ronnie bought it,” he shouted over the music.

“I figured,” she laughed. “Where’s your friend?”

Archie shrugged. “Probably went to get a drink.” Betty nodded, her suspicions that Mr Jones didn’t actually exist surfacing again. “I’ll introduce you guys in a sec, I just need to find Ronnie first. Where is she?”

Betty pointed in the direction of the roped off VIP area where she left Veronica five minutes before. Archie hurried off, eager to reassure his girlfriend that he would be there to kiss her at midnight. Betty checked her phone. Only an hour to go and she still didn’t have anyone to kiss when the New Year rolled in. She needed a drink, and a miracle.

 

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 11pm...**

Jughead checked his watch. Only an hour to go until he could sneak out of this hell-hole and welcome the New Year in the way he always did -- with a beer and an episode of _Law and Order._ He gulped down his drink and waited to order another, making the most of Archie’s debit card before his friend wised up.

He tapped his empty bottle lightly on the bar and fidgeted nervously with the sleeve of his jacket. Looking around at the assortment of blazers and cocktail dresses, he realised he was definitely under-dressed in his scruffy jeans and old _Pink Floyd_ t-shirt, but he didn’t really care. He didn’t belong in places like this, so why bother pretending? He didn’t think he even owned a blazer.

“Excuse me?” Jughead turned around, surprised. A beautiful young women smiled shyly at him, tucking a blonde wave behind her ear. “Are you waiting?” she gestured to the bar.

“Uhh… you go ahead.” 

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.” He took a step back and she slipped in front of him, filling his personal space with her vanilla-scented perfume, but for once Jughead didn’t mind. He felt like he should say something else, but didn’t know what. Thankfully he didn’t have to. “You don’t look like you want to be here,” the girl observed.

“Is it that obvious?” he smiled slightly.

“Naa, I’m just good at reading people.” He nodded. “You not a fan of New Year’s?”

“You could say that.” He noticed the way her green eyes brightened when she smiled and it made him smile right along with her.

“Did your girlfriend force you to come out?”

“Nope, roommate. Well, my roommate’s girlfriend. You?”

“Let’s just say that if I opted to stay in bed with a book and a cup of hot chocolate, like I had originally planned, my roommate would have disowned me.” She was distracted for a moment by the bar-tender. “I’ll have a vodka and lemonade and one of whatever he’s having.” She fumbled around in her clutch bag for her purse but Jughead beat her to it, tapping Archie’s debit card against the reader before she had the chance. “Hey!” she protested.

“You can buy the next one,” he promised with a grin. She closed her lips around the straw in her drink and couldn’t help but smile back.

“I’m Betty by the way.” 

Betty. Surely this wasn’t the Betty that Archie and Veronica had been trying to set him up with? If it was, he was going to kick himself. She was gorgeous.

“I’m Jughead.”

“Nice to meet you Jughead.”

 

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 11:45pm...**

Two vodka and lemonades later, Betty was lounging on the leather VIP seating with Jughead sitting beside her. She had long forgotten about the mystery Jones that Veronica had been intent on setting her up with. She was too busy giggling at something Jughead had said, and it had nothing to do with the alcohol. He was funny, but not in the conventional sense. Perhaps witty was a better word. He was good looking as well, all sharp angles and dark features, his blue eyes bright under black lashes. He was nothing like guys she had dated before, and it was refreshing. He didn’t try any sleezy chat-up lines, or cringey moves, he was just being genuine. Their conversation flowed easily, both of them eager to discover as much about the other before the stroke of midnight.

“Favourite book?”

“That one’s easy, _Beloved._ And yours?”

“ _In Cold Blood,_ ” he admitted.

“Capote, a classic,” Betty nodded approvingly. “Most exotic place visited?”

“Chicago,” he laughed. “I’ve never left the US.”

“Do you want to?”

“Obviously! I’ve just got to earn some money first. How about you? You look like you’re well travelled.”

“Furthest away from the US I’ve ever gotten was Canada,” Betty shrugged. 

“So where do you want to go?”

“Paris,” she answered quickly. “I’ve always wanted to go to Paris.”

“Every girl’s dream,” he teased. Betty slapped his arm playfully.

“Well where is your dream holiday destination?” she challenged.

“Rome.” Betty raised her eyebrows. “For the ancient history!” Jughead protested.

“Sure,” she smiled. “Nothing to do with the fact that under your broody surface you’re actually just a hopeless romantic?” She took another sip of her drink, trying not to giggle at the way he pouted at her.

“Absolutely not,” he couldn’t help but smile back.

 

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 11:57pm...**

Jughead checked his watch again, the stroke of midnight was almost upon them, but he didn’t find himself wanting to leave quite yet. The evening had taken him completely by surprise in the shape of a beautiful blonde with startling green eyes. There was always the chance that she would come to her senses, but that chance got smaller and smaller as the clock inched closer to the New Year.

 

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 11:59pm...**

One minute to go. Betty grabbed Jughead’s hand. He looked up at her, surprise in his blues eyes, but he welcomed the contact with a smile. Betty could feel her skin tingling where it made contact with his.

She inched closer to him, the alcohol making her bold. It had been a while since she had kissed anyone but she was determined to begin the year on a high, and she suspected Jughead was the way to do it. She could hear people chanting in the background. Ten seconds to go. Nine. Eight. 

 

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 11:59pm…**

Seven. Jughead lent closer to Betty, his hand brushing her cheek and curling around the back of her head. Her blonde waves caressed his fingers. Six. Her lips parted slightly and he could feel her breath on his face. He could almost taste her vanilla-scent on his tongue.

 

**New Year’s Eve 2018, 11:59pm...**

Five. Betty rested her hand on his knee. Four. She inhaled, he smelled like peppermint. Three. Her eyes fluttered closed, the image of his earnest blue eyes imprinted in her mind. Two. She lent closer. One.

 

**New Year’s Day 2019, 12am…**

Jughead closed the distance, his lips meeting hers as the whole nightclub erupted in cheers. The shouts welcoming in the New Year seemed miles away though. Betty smiled against his lips, Jughead wound his hand around her waist and pulled her closer. Her hands were tangled in his hair as her lips moved eagerly against his. 

“Get a room you two,” Jughead heard a familiar voice shout. He broke away from Betty to glare at his roommate who was grinning stupidly at him.

“Didn’t I say you two would be cute together?” Veronica chimed in, smirking triumphantly at Betty as she plopped down on the sofa beside them. Betty looked confused. “How’re you doing Jones?” she sniggered.

“Wait… what?” Betty asked, her hand still entwined with Jughead’s. She turned to look at him. “You’re Archie’s roommate?”

Jughead nodded. “And you’re Archie’s best friend from Riverdale?”

Betty burst out laughing. She couldn’t believe that out of the hundreds of people at the party she had managed to find the one person Veronica had been going on about for months, and she had done it completely of her own accord.

“It’s fate,” Veronica announced, clapping her hands excitedly. Both the boys rolled their eyes. Veronica raised her glass. “Happy New Year bitches! Let’s have a good one.”

“Happy New Year!” They echoed after her.

 

**New Year’s Eve 2019, 11:59pm...**

The Eiffel Tower gleamed against the dark sky as the crowds rustled restlessly for the New Year. Betty gripped Jughead’s hand tightly in the darkness, his thumb made tiny circles against her skin as the countdown began. They were six hours ahead of their friends in New York, but that didn’t matter. They only wanted to welcome the New Year in with each other. 

“I love you,” Betty murmured.

“I love you too,” he replied, his lips catching hers just as the stroke of midnight fell and the fireworks burst behind France’s most famous landmark. 

“Rome next year?”

“You bet.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my (late) Secret Santa! Sorry for the delay, I don't know where my time went this Christmas! Happy New Year! 
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @bughead-is-riverdale


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